


Out of Time

by cian1675



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Dramarama MV AU, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Longing, Non-Graphic Violence, grandfather paradox, references to monsta x's songs and lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-19 00:12:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16129571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cian1675/pseuds/cian1675
Summary: Hoseok is supposed to do…Something.He always does… something at 3pm. The thing is, he’s not too sure what this something is. All he remembers is that he has to do it, and that he’s always done it before.





	Out of Time

**Author's Note:**

> Playlist for this:  
> \+ Dramarama  
> \+ In Time  
> \+ From Zero

o o o

 

 

 _My time stops, I can’t move,_  
_My heart is spinning again_  
_In the same spot._  
_Daydream, I’m dreaming,_  
_This dazzling welcome, this sweet illusion._

 **_[_ ** _Monsta X – Dramarama **]**_

 

 

**Hoseok | 2047**

His alarm rings. Hoseok wakes up, reaches over his bed to stop it. It takes a while; the alarm clock is further than he remembers. The bed feels strangely wide. Blurrily rubbing his eyes, Hoseok sits up, gets ready to start his day.

For a while, Hoseok does everything on autopilot. His body feels a little heavy, his mind fuzzy. He doesn’t recall drinking the night before, nor does he remember what could have gotten him so tired or hare-brained. Still, Hoseok goes about his day, does his errands, works through a light cardio routine at the gym before cooking instant ramyeon for lunch. It’s only at 3pm, when he sits down at his couch, does he realise –

He’s supposed to do…

Something.

He always does… _something_ at 3pm. The thing is, he’s not too sure what this something is. All he remembers is that he has to do it, and that he’s always done it before. Hoseok looks around, feels around his couch, even removes the covers from the cushion before he finds what he’s looking for. Or, well, he doesn’t remember what he was supposed to be looking for, but he knows – he _knows_ – that this is it once he finds it:

A watch.

It’s a heavy thing, the face big and round, the year shown in silver analogue dials against the beige back. The weight of it is familiar enough even though Hoseok can’t remember whether he’s seen it before. Still, it seems his body already knows what to do, and he finds himself clicking on the button before he realises he’s done it.

For a while, nothing happens.

Then, suddenly, there’s a sinking feeling in his stomach, and Hoseok has to squeeze his eyes shut –

 

 

When he opens them again, the scene has changed. Hoseok’s no longer in his one-room apartment. Instead of carpet, the floor is smooth worn timber, and there’s sunlight filtering in from large windows at the side. Hoseok doesn’t remember this place but he knows where he is, somehow.

It’s a kendo dojo.

This place isn’t like the one he frequents, but it’s not… unfamiliar. A man appears from behind the equipment then, tall, well-built, and dressed in navy blue robes for practice. It’s the same shade of blue as the ones Hoseok has in his apartment, hanging out to dry. In the guy’s arm is the protective helmet they’re supposed to wear for sparring, a similar one to Hoseok’s lying at home, and somehow the way he carries it seems familiar.

In fact, now that he thinks about it, the guy _himself_ seems familiar even though Hoseok can’t quite place him or remember where he’s seen him before. His mind is still a fuzzy blank. Despite that, it seems like Hoseok _knows_ him, because the moment the guy says, “Hi, Hoseok,” eyes curving into crescents, Hoseok finds himself replying with an automatic –

“Hi, Hyunwoo.”

The second the words are out, a little of the fuzziness in his mind clears, and Hoseok recalls something.

“Son Hyunwoo. This… this isn’t the first time we’ve met, am I right?”

“No,” Hyunwoo says with a smile, and it’s more dazzling than a slight curve of the lips should be. Hoseok licks his dry lips, tries to wrap his mind around the little snippet of information he had just recalled.

“Correct me if I’m wrong but… this isn’t the year 2047, is it?”

Hyunwoo’s eyes widen a little, then laughs.

“I thought I’m not supposed to mention it anymore?”

“Humour me,” Hoseok says, his tone coming out more familiar than he should be with Hyunwoo even though he still can’t quite remember how or why he knows him. Somehow, something in his gut tells him that they’re close, and the feeling is only affirmed by Hyunwoo rolling his eyes good-naturedly at the comment. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite prepare him for Hyunwoo’s answer.

“Hoseok-ah, you were the one who told me not to say it again. But if you must know, it’s the year 2017 here.”

 

 

 

o o o

                                                                                                                                                           

 

 _In time, can time please stop_  
_So I can see that beautiful light?_  
_In time, in this time and place,_  
_You can come into my arms._  
_Wait for me **.**_

 **_[_ ** _Monsta X – In Time **]**_

 

 

**Hyunwoo | 2017**

Hyunwoo doesn’t dream often. When he does, once in a while, he tends to find himself waking up with the niggling feeling like he’d forgotten something. He never once remembers his dream. This one though… this one today seemed a little different.

Or maybe, something just feels a little different about today.

 

 

The dojo is empty when Hyunwoo gets there for morning practice. It’s not unusual, perhaps, given that it’s seven in the morning, but Hyunwoo finds himself looking over his shoulder every now and then, feeling like he’s supposed to…

He can’t remember what he’s supposed to.

Shaking his head, Hyunwoo gets back to practice but doesn’t quite manage to rid himself of the odd feeling. It’s only looking forward to Hoseok’s appearance in the afternoon does he end up staying in the dojo the whole time, going through moves he’s long grown familiar with. A little past three, the air tingles, that strange sensation Hyunwoo’s grown to associate with Hoseok’s arrival, and he peeks his head into the next room where Hoseok usually appears.

“Hi, Hoseok,” Hyunwoo says, more than glad to see his sparring buddy. It’s been really boring practicing alone by himself today even though he’s not sure why he would think so because he usually practices alone in the dojo anyway.

“Hi, Hyunwoo,” Hoseok says, and Hyunwoo’s about to comment on his attire – tracksuit instead of the kendo robes he’d usually wear – when Hoseok adds, “Son Hyunwoo. This… this isn’t the first time we’ve met, am I right?”

“No,” Hyunwoo confirms, a slight smile on his lips. So Hoseok had been right. He really seemed to have forgotten some things _after_ , just like he’d said he would.

“Correct me if I’m wrong but… this isn’t the year 2047, is it?”

Hoseok sounds hesitant, and his nervous gestures are so familiar that Hyunwoo laughs, even as he remembers vaguely what Hoseok had said the last time they’d seen each other.

“I thought I’m not supposed to mention it anymore?”

“Humour me,” Hoseok insists, and Hyunwoo rolls his eyes but gives in. It’s probably not a good thing, but he’d always been easy, especially when it came to Hoseok.

“Hoseok-ah, you were the one who told me not to say it again. But if you must know, it’s the year 2017 here.”

“20…17?”

Hyunwoo nods instead of replying. He picks up his wooden sword, feels the weight in his hands as he waits for Hoseok to wrap his mind around it. Hoseok had guessed that this would happen too. Why Hyunwoo remembers, while Hoseok does not, he doesn’t know. But still, this was what Hoseok had asked him to do before… well, _before_ , and Hyunwoo would do what he can to help.

“... Do you remember anything at all?” Hyunwoo eventually asks, when it seems like Hoseok’s just standing there, eyebrows furrowed, glancing around the place like he’s lost. He probably is. Hyunwoo can’t imagine what it’ll feel like to lose a chunk of his memory and not know it.

“What am I supposed to …know? To remember?” Hoseok eventually asks, eyes meeting Hyunwoo. There’s something that looks like sadness in his gaze, and Hyunwoo finds himself raising his hand to cup Hoseok’s face, a thumb smoothing over his cheek. Hoseok looks a little surprised, but he doesn’t move away.

“I can tell you what I remember,” Hyunwoo offers. And he does, tells Hoseok about how they’d met just a few months ago in 2017, when he’d thought Hoseok was just a new student at the dojo. And how they had slowly become friends, then sparring buddies, and how the two of them had just worked so well with each other.

“I…”

Hoseok is taking all this in silently, but Hyunwoo can tell he still doesn’t actually remember. He’d been warned by Hoseok _before_ that this might happen, yet there’s still that weird twinge in his chest. It’d taken time for the two of them to become close, close enough that Hoseok would trust him enough to reveal that he’s not from 2017, or that he time travels using the chunky watch he’d always treated with utmost care. And now, all of that is gone, erased, just as Hoseok had predicted.

Hyunwoo takes in a deep breath, smiles. “It’s okay, you don’t have to remember. You kind of expected that this would happen and told me to tell you all this again if it did.”

“I… I told you to tell me this?”

“Yeah,” Hyunwoo confirms. “But that’s not all there is.”

Hoseok looks up, frowning. “You haven’t told me something important, have you?”

“No,” Hyunwoo says, and has to swallow before he can say the next line. “Hoseok-ah... you… were an assassin.”

Hoseok blinks at him. “I… wait, I _what?_ ”

Disbelief colours Hoseok’s features. His lips part, then close, then part again.

“I… I’m an assassin? I mean, when I woke up this morning, I didn’t really remember needing to work, like I didn’t have to go to an office or anything, but I did remember coming to this dojo every day, so I thought that was my job… or at least how I spent my time…”

Hyunwoo pats Hoseok’s shoulder gently as his voice trails off, tries to think of how best to phrase this.

“Well, you did come to this dojo every day, but don’t you think it’s weird that you have to time travel just to practice kendo?”

Hoseok blinks again, slowly this time, and Hyunwoo can tell he’s thinking.

“Are you saying… that the reason why I came here every day, time-travelled to this place every day, was to… kill someone?”

There’s no way to say it otherwise, so Hyunwoo just nods.

“Yeah.”

Hoseok’s head is slightly lowered but Hyunwoo catches his pupils shifting, his brain crunching through all this information.

“I… I succeeded, didn’t I?”

Hyunwoo nods hesitantly. “I… think so? I mean, you don’t remember a large chunk of what happened, and I had also woken up with a feeling like I might have forgotten something, so that’s would be my guess.”

Hoseok tilts his head, clearly still processing all this. When he opens his mouth, his words come out jerky, like he’s thinking out loud.

“That _is_ probably what happened, isn’t it? I killed whoever I was sent to kill, and all our memories associated with that person had been obliterated... no, just _vanished_ , removed from our minds like they’d never existed, just like that.”

“Yeah,” Hyunwoo says slowly.

Hoseok’s holding himself carefully now, arms crossed over his chest, head bowed. He looks so far away, so closed off. Without thinking, Hyunwoo steps forward, wraps his arms around Hoseok’s shoulders. Maybe it’s not the right response at all, but comfort seems to be what Hoseok needs – what they both need.

“It’s okay,” Hyunwoo mumbles, patting Hoseok’s back. “It’s okay.” _We’ll figure this out_ , Hyunwoo almost says, but somehow doesn’t. Instead, he just holds Hoseok, rubs soothing circles into his shaking back until he calms down.

“Thank you,” Hoseok says after, voice funny and sniffling, but the only thought Hyunwoo has is –

_I’m glad I didn’t forget you._

_(I’m glad you didn’t forget me.)_

 

 

 

 

o o o

 

 

 _Let’s write our story from zero_  
_I want to know everything about you all over again_  
_Even if it’s really hard, from zero_  
_I want to hold you in my arms again_  
_From zero, from zero_  
_I’m turning back the clock_  
_Like the first time_

 **_[_ ** _Monsta X – From Zero **]**_

 

 

 **Hyungwon |** **∞**

Zero. Infinity. Zero again. Sometimes, Hyungwon loses himself, finds himself in a different time, a different place without intending to. Other times, he remembers, remembers so much it hurts, and he wants to go back.

 

 

He’s in his workshop this time. Hyungwon always ends up here, somehow. He’s not sure why, but he’s grateful because it means he has his tools. Removing the heavy watch off his wrist, Hyungwon sits down, dismantles the backing with practiced ease. The inside of the watch is a mess, filaments pulled and re-soldered, countless additions to the original setup and pieces missing to make space. He’s reconfigured the gadget too many times already and while his endeavours haven’t been a complete failure – he had managed to travel in time, sort of – it’s still not exactly what he needs. So he’s doing this again. Try, tweak, test, and if he fails, try another time.

It takes a while, but when he’s done with the modifications, Hyungwon puts everything back together, fits the spare parts in a small bag, then tucks it into his pocket. And then, he turns the dials to 2017, closes his eyes, and pushes the button.

 

 

When he opens his eyes, he’s in the dojo. Everything looks like how he’d remembered it. Hyungwon runs a hand past the shelves, feels them solid under his palm. That’s already better than what had happened for the last tweak. He licks his lips, wonders if he might actually have gotten it right this time. There’s no sound coming from the main practice hall, but Hyungwon finds himself walking towards it anyway, waiting, anticipating even as he braces his heart for the worst because sometimes he finds himself alone, standing in the middle of the dojo in the wee hours of the night, having missed the opportunity to see him. When Hyungwon pushes open the door this time, it moves, instead of his hand merely passing through like it used to, and he notices that the lights are on, which means… he might… he might see _him_.

Pushing the door further, Hyungwon holds his breath, feels his heart race when he spots a side profile he’s too familiar with, that rounded tip of Hoseok’s nose, the way he stands, legs a little apart, the fall of his hair over his eyes, that smile… and then he notices –

There are arms around Hoseok’s waist, fingers working to first remove his gear, then splaying across his back, his chest…

Something leaden settles in Hyungwon’s stomach. He has a sudden compulsion to run, but he finds himself rooted in the spot, watching Hyunwoo pull Hoseok into his chest, front to his back, tight. Neither of them move, not even when Hyungwon takes a sharp inhale of air, and that’s when he realises.

He can _touch_ things, but he’s still not corporeal.

And then, there’s saltiness upon his lips, wetness on his cheeks when Hyungwon runs his fingers over them. Squeezing the watch, Hyungwon presses the button, feels the familiar zap in his belly as time shifts.

 

 

He’s on an empty road. It’s raining.

At least he has an umbrella this time.

Hyungwon pockets his watch as he stands in the rain, the umbrella unopened.

 

 

The next time he tries the watch, Hyungwon lands in the dojo. It’s daytime, which gives Hyungwon hope, but he’s also so, so tired. The door moves when he pushes it, and this time it creaks. Hyunwoo looks up.

“Chae?”

Hyungwon falters.

“…H-hyunwoo?” Hyungwon starts, only to feel something – some _one_ – pass through him. The man who had passed through walks up to Hyunwoo. He’s tall, lean, almost gangly even.

It’s a silhouette Hyungwon’s too familiar with.

In a past that doesn’t exist in any current timelines, Hyungwon had once sneaked up on this man from behind. The blood that soaked through his kendo uniform had been thick, cloying and red; it was the only thing Hyungwon had remembered before he blanked out. Even though Hyungwon had only been bodily behind this man once, he has seen the same scene play out in his mind repeatedly so, yeah.

It’s a silhouette Hyungwon’s _too_ familiar with.

Hyungwon closes his eyes, already knows what Hyunwoo and the man would talk about. He had been here before, in the flesh back then, corporeal and alive, with Hoseok just a step behind. That had been the first time either of them had realised that even though their target was Hyunwoo, he was never going to be the key to stop the rebellion of 2027 from ever happening. No, the key had always been the other man, the real mastermind behind the rebellion. It was not Hyunwoo they had to kill.

It was Hyungwon’s grandfather.

 

 

 

 

o o o

 

 

 _This scene keeps repeating_  
_And I’m trapped inside_  
_Can’t figure out the ending of my_  
_Drama, dramarama_

 **_[_ ** _Monsta X – Dramarama **]**_

 

 

 **Hoseok |** **2047**

His alarm rings. Hoseok wakes up, reaches over his bed to stop it. It takes a while; the alarm clock is further than he remembers. The bed still feels strangely wide. Blurrily rubbing his eyes, Hoseok sits up, gets ready to start his day.

His wardrobe is half empty, all the clothes hanging on one side, but Hoseok puts on a bathrobe, heads for the toilet. In the bathroom, he notices, for some reason, that all his toiletries are on one side, the other half strangely clean. Hoseok brushes his teeth, shifts some of his bottles to the other side of the counter to make it even. Maybe he should rearrange his wardrobe so it’ll be less empty too. It still doesn’t feel quite right, but it’s… better.

Hoseok spits out the minty foam, gargles his mouth as he considers what he should do.

Maybe later, when he sees Hyunwoo, he can talk to him about it.

He wipes his mouth, heads into the shower.

Yeah, maybe he’ll just talk to Hyunwoo about it later.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact, this was the first Monsta X fic I started, which I only just finished. I think the tags might not make this the most appealing of fics, but if you've made it this far, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on this story :) Thank you for reading this.
> 
> P.S.: I'm also on [twitter](https://twitter.com/cian1675), tweeting too much when I'm stuck on a fic (currently a kihokyun fic with fem!ki)


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